Pere: We can now look in the mayor's closet

Once Tallinn has a new coalition, an audit is in order to understand the situation in the city government and what needs to be changed, said Pärtel-Peeter Pere, head of the Reform Party group in the Tallinn City Council.
Pere said consultations for a new coalition in Tallinn will now start and no position is a done deal, including whether the Social Democrats will land the post of mayor (SDE's Madle Lippus will stand in as acting mayor until then – ed.). "I've said in the past that the Social Democrats have the rare chance of landing the mayor's seat, and they have now taken a step closer to it," Pere said.
Pere said that a revision of accounts is now necessary to get a picture of what is going on in the city government and whether the so-called Centrist food chain still exists, even though the Social Democrats have claimed they've been dismantling it.
"We can now open the door to the mayor's office, open his closets to look at what's inside, under and behind. The Social Democrats (who shared a coalition with Center in Tallinn until Tuesday morning – ed.) did not have that opportunity. We can tour the city government now and see what needs changing, where someone has been hired for a fictitious position etc.," Pere said, adding that an audit is in order to get a full picture.
In terms of what the Reform Party would like to change in the city government, Pere mentioned boosting the quality of public transport.
"Public transport quality needs to markedly improve in Tallinn and in cooperation with the outlying municipalities. This means buses that go where people live. We will procure mobile positioning data for this purpose to get an exact picture."
Processing of detailed plans should also be expedited to lend strength to residential developments, Pere added.
"So that people, developers could build and people buy apartments to drive down real estate prices. Houses will not be going up like flowers in spring, but Madle Lippus has done good work in improving these processes and hiring new people, while we need to shift it into overdrive," Pere said.
He also said that Reform sees eye to eye with Isamaa in terms of freeing owners of buildings from the obligation of keeping the sidewalks clear of snow.
"People don't need to spend their time shoveling sidewalks. We will do everything we can to put an end to that nonsense. That said, we will not be clearing every little side street in Nõmme, which work needs to be done by hand," Pere said.
There are no plans for new municipal taxes, Pere noted.
A motion of no confidence against Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) passed on Tuesday and will be followed by talks for an alternative coalition in the capital.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Marko Tooming